Goal: To immediately rescue and remove 13 year-old elephant, Sunder, from the Indian temple where he suffers constant abuse and mistreatment.

A 13 year-old elephant, Sunder, has been imprisoned at the Jyotiba Temple in Maharashtra, India for the last six years. He has been poorly treated by his handler, or mahout, and subject to abuse and starvation, often barely getting a meal of raw rice, or sometime even given tobacco and other hazardous substances. He is tied up with spiked chains and has been observed with wounds all over his body, most recently under his right eye, likely from his mahout hitting him with a sharp, metal-tipped weapon. He received no care for these wounds; animal rescue officials had to step in to provide veterinary care.

Elephants are social, intelligent animals who are used to walking 18 hours a day and living in tight-knit family groups. Elephants kept in temples to represent the Hindu god Ganesha have often been ripped away from their families at a young age. Keeping them in captivity causes boredom and loneliness, and captive elephants are often observed swaying, rocking, and head-bobbing—all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. They also experience pressure sores and arthritis from years of lack of exercise and standing on hard floors.

Sunder was donated to the temple, and while temple officials have been approached to take better care of Sunder and provide relief for him, they have done nothing. Now Paul McCartney has even stepped in to try to have Sunder rescued.

The 13 year-old elephant, Sunder, who has been kept at the Jyotiba Temple for the past six years, has experienced years of abuse and neglect. He is not even given access to adequate food and water, and when he is fed, he is often fed food that only increases his malnutrition. He is regularly abused by his mahout and has received little to no veterinary care for wounds sustained from the abuse.

Visitors to the temple are concerned for Sunder’s well-being. They have seen him chained up and wounded. Elephants were not made to live in captivity, especially chained up and barely fed the way Sunder is. I am asking you to please step in and rescue Sunder immediately from his poor care. He does not deserve to be chained up for the rest of his life, which is becoming increasingly short as his treatment worsens. Do the right thing by the concerned animal lovers, and by Sunder.

Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]

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18 Comments

Confinement in a restricted area can lead to serious foot and joint diseases, as well as abnormal behavior such as swaying, rocking and shaking of their heads.”
Elephants are highly social animals forming strong bonds and thriving on interaction with other members of their herd
· Research shows that when kept alone in captivity they can suffer from boredom, severe stress and depression which, in turn, can cause aggression.
Elephants cry, play, have incredible memories, and laugh

What on earth are we doing to our wildlife? How can people let them suffer every hour of their lives? This elephant must have cried at being separated from its mother and herd. Please have a shred of decency and humanity and release him from his miserable life.

omg fast food really, why not just feed yourself or your kids rat poison. the only nutrition in fast food is what they have to add to it. besides the fact all the hormones, antibiotic treatments that are given to these animals to keep them alive. Now that food production is in the hands of agra business, mega producers, along with chemical giants inside the FDA, creating franken foods, I really don’t see much future with food safety or health.

Caring and compassionate people everywhere are shocked and appalled by the inhumane treatment of this intelligent sentient being. We ask officials to immediately remove this unfortunate creature from the life of misery and suffering he is being forced to endure. There can be no justification for such uncivilized and barbaric treatment of Sunder.

Put all the pressure on them that you can. Apparently their collective sense of decency and humaneness is lacking, but political pressure often gets results. I believe the elephants’ “mahout” is responsible in general for their animals’ well-being, so no reason to believe otherwise in this case. Let’s get busy!

the mahmout surely is the one to harm and torture this helpless animal, but ultimately the powers that be in this so called holy temple must take the full blame for allowing the abuse to continue.And if they dont know that the abuse is happening they should know whom they employ, and what they get up to. SHAME ON YOU.

For such an animal this is even worse torture, they have better memory than humans, get extremely bored because of there huge intelligence and it will do no good for the world nor the Temple and any holy spirit. Useless Torture must end now.

Why can’t we expose SUNDER’S TEMPLE TORTURE on the tourism sites that promote this temple? PETA India indicated that he can be taken to a sanctuary if he just would be released so there is no excuse for his continuing ordeal.

Thank you so much kind people for showing up for this very cause. There are people commenting in here, on this blog for the LOVE OF BEAUTIFUL LIVES THAT SHARE THIS PLANET WITH US but are only being neglected or insanely treated by cruel scums (humans)… Thank u so much people.. Shame on the government and people around that cared less to pay heed to this inhumane act..

LOVE & CARE FOR ANIMALS DESCRIBES ACTUAL CHARACTER OF A PERSON…..
Keep up the LOVE FOR beautiful creatures… Love animals ALWAYS !!!.

Has anything been done to help this elephant? Sunder is a thinking, intelligent being. If she can be sent to a sanctuary in Africa where she can join a group of elephants, that might be advisable. Hoping she is in a safe place.

YOU PEOPLE ARE THE WORST LIVING VERMINE.. YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD TO TAKE CARE OF THIS ELEPHANT OVER AND OVER.. I WISH WE COULD COME AND BEATAND BEAT YOU..YOUR ROTTEN YOUR PLACES OF HELP..LIKE peta..a buch of no goods..you will die a trgic death all of you and soon..cuel is not strong enough to say what you are..HELP HELP..NOW GET ON WITH DOING SOMETHING RIGHT IN YOUR LIVES..MILLIONS ARE ON SENDER SIDE AND YOU WILL GET YOURS..VETS YOU HAVE THEM DONT YOU??VETS GET GET WITH IT NOW DO SOMETHING..I WILL PUT A CURSE ON YOU ALL

GRR! WHY IS THIS PETITION STILL HERE??! PETA AND SAM SIMON RESCUED SUNDER IN JUNE OF 2014!! FROM PETA INDIA, FEBRUARY 2015:

“With the help of PETA India, the Bannerghatta Biological Park — Sunder’s new home — becomes India’s first free-roaming elephant sanctuary. A PETA consultant and elephant expert designed a new solar electric fence and a state-of-the-art emergency corral for Sunder and his 14 elephant friends. Once the fencing is complete, the herd will be able to roam, bathe in ponds, and socialize without being restricted.
With the new fencing, Sunder’s home could act as a model for elephant sanctuaries throughout Asia.
With the freedom to engage in natural behavior within a large open space that they can call their own, Sunder and his new family will continue to thrive.”

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